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The Night of Betrayal The Night of Betrayal happened at sundown of the 22nd day of Sirrimont, 280 years before the Cataclysm, almost 700 years ago. Many scholars consider the Night of Betrayal to be one of the Signs of Doom, the portents given of the eventual fall of lstar, revealed centuries before the Kingpriest drew down the wrath of the gods. A powerful and charismatic priest of Mishakal, whose name has since been struck from the stories and legends of the tribes, stood as the temple's High Master, second only to the temple's High Priest. By all accounts a pious and dedicated cleric, as he grew older he felt his body slipping out of his control, and even his most fervent prayers to his goddess could not ease the inevitable decline of aging. Slowly, bitterness and a sense of betrayal toward his goddess led the priest to the Shrine of Darkness within the temple, a shrine where the evil gods were honored (as were all the gods honored in the temple as a sign of piety). No one is certain what happened that night but it became obvious later that the priest struck a deal with Chemosh, the Lord of Undeath, who promised the priest immortality. Chemosh cloaked the priest's soul, answering his prayers so that none in the temple were aware of the transformation the priest had undergone. Only Mishakal knew she had lost one of her favored children, but before the goddess could act, the priest struck a deal with the shamans of Blode, allowing the ogre hordes to pour into the valley and slaughter the unsuspecting inhabitants. As the priests of the temple tried to aid their beleaguered followers, the Betrayer struck from within, killing the High Priest in the Shrine of Light and using his blood to desecrate the shrine to weaken the power of the gods of Light. He then unleashed the minions of Chemosh from the darkest pits of the Abyss. As the blood of the priests of light spilled upon the temple floor, they called down a curse upon the invaders that washed over the ogre hordes and struck them down where they stood. The Betrayer was driven into the temple's catacomb where he sought refuge from the divine anger of the gods in the shelter of death. It was in the catacombs that a young acolyte, armed with a vision given to him by the goddess Mishakal and wielding a holy blade of divine light was able to strike down the Betrayer, though it cost him his Life. In a single night, hundreds of people, both innocents and ogres, died and only Chemosh truly reaped aught that night, as many of those who died rose again as the restless dead. Word of the Night of Betrayal spread throughout the tribesman of Khur, carried upon the wings of dreams and visions. A group of shamans arrived at the valley entrance two days later, and though they did not enter the valley itself, they cast many prayers to ease the spirits of the dead into the next life, and marked the valley entrance with warnings of the curse within. Since that time, no Khur nomad has stepped foot within the valley. Many spirits that wandered the desert at night are said to have come from the cursed valley, and many who died near the ruins found their souls drawn toward a place where the barrier between life and death had been worn thin. When the Cataclysm struck, the valley entrance was sealed as the canyon filled with boulders and debris, closing the cursed valley for more than 400 years. The Khur were greatly relieved, but their greatest shamans foretold that there would be a time when the valley would open once more releasing an ancient evil upon the world. The War of Souls When the Great Storm hit Ansalon, announcing the return of the Queen of Darkness, Takhisis, the spirits of the dead were drawn in to her web. Many of the weaker spirits within the Ruins of Hurim were also drawn into the River of Souls as the Dark Queen used them to gather magic and power for her schemes. At the end of the War, those spirits were released and carried upon the River to their next life. However, the veil between life and death in the valley is very thin, and the power of the curse, even though it is almost 700 years old, is still powerful enough that many of the spirits were unable to leave. Those that were strong enough and possessed of dark sentience (such as many of the intelligent undead within the ruins) purposefully stayed within the relative safety of the valley. When the War of Souls ended, and the gods of Krynn returned, Chemosh once more turned his eyes upon the world and began plotting once again. It was he who caused the earthquake, opening the valley to the world, and it is he who keeps a sharp eye on what happens within.